US President Joe Biden to embrace Asia allies – and meet Xi in San Francisco

President Joe Biden is welcoming Pacific Rim friends to San Francisco this week. As part of his efforts to present a unified front against Beijing's increasing influence, the US leader will also host a crucial summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping there. In the largest diplomatic gathering in San Francisco since 1945, Biden leads the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference, which is striving to maintain its reputation as a leader in technology while sprucing up its widespread homelessness issue. A new US-led trade agreement for Asia is anticipated to be unveiled by Biden; it is significantly less ambitious than…